Cinema
MARTIN LUTHER. (Academy.)—LADY AND THE TRAMP. (Studio One.) WHEREVER it has been shown, Martin Luther, as a work of religious propaganda has, of course, aroused considerable controversy, but in a preponderantly Protestant country such as ours it is more possible to judge it for its artistic rather than its doctrinal values. Pro- duced by Louis de Rochemont in collaboration with Lutheran Church Productions, and directed by Irving Pichel, the film is as pictori- ally satisfactory as it is orally distracting, the profusion of accents, Irish, American, German and Italian, though perhaps symbolic of a world-wide faith, jarring the even tenor of the script. The acting throughout is admirable. Niall MacGinnis as Luther giving a beautifully sustained performance, travelling from doubt to conviction, from fear to fury with-a solid but sensitive tread. Here is a profoundly honest, devout, and pig-headed man painted in delicate shades. John Ruddick as the Vicar of an Augustinian monastery exquisitely radiates the wisdom of holy old age; David Home in- vests the Elector of Saxony with just the right mixture of bluffness and avant-garde thinking. Although the film underlines the practice and abuse of the sale of indulgences and the venality of Pope Leo X, it also, to the un- biased at any rate, fairly presents the oppos- ing Roman Catholic view and by no means hallows Luther's adherents, many of whom are shown to be vandals and fools. Serious, intel- ligent and simply laid out, this biographical study of the great reformer who altered the face of the religious world is of absorbing inter- est and remains, despite the weakness in its polyglot interpretation, a film to • be remembered.
In the same programme The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, a film of the master's sublime doodles produced by Basil Wright. with a documentary shared by Laurence Olivier and Cecil Day Lewis, and accompanied by Alan Rawsthorne's music, provides a half- hour of pure artistic delight.
Far less purely artistic, but just as delightful —indeed, to tell the truth, more so—is the new Walt Disney full-length cartoon film called Lady and the Tratnp; Lady being a cocker spaniel and Tramp a mongrel. In their adven- tures and ultimate romance they are assisted by a number of other dogs of various breeds whose characters are superbly defined on strictly human lines, and hilariously presented. The Pekinese Marilyn Monroe singing a torch song and the Borzoi philosopher quoting Gorki are especially ravishing. There are also two very Siamese Siamese cats, perfidiously oriental and extremely funny. Returning to the animal kingdom, Mr. Disney has recap- tured the magic he was in danger of losing, and all the small ridiculous touches are here again to charm one into a state of cooing idiocy.
VIRGINIA GRAHAM
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